White Hot Stamper (Quiet Vinyl)

Lionel RichieCan't Slow Down

A stunning copy of Can't Slow Down with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on side two and an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side one - exceptionally quiet viny too

The sound on side two was bigger, clearer, and simply more relaxed and musical than any other side we heard

4 1/2 stars: "In 1999, Q magazine included Can't Slow Down on its list of the best Motown records of all time and stated, 'Production values are high, his songwriting craft is at its peak and at least one track - the global smash 'All Night Long' - is an anthem to good times that makes the heart sing and feet twitch.'"

This vintage Motown pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn't showing signs of coming back.

If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to "see" the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with Lionel and the band, this is the record for you. It's what vintage all analog recordings are known for -- this sound.

If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it -- not often, and certainly not always -- but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.

What the best sides of Can't Slow Down have to offer is not hard to hear:

The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space

The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes even as late as 1983

Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low

Natural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre

Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional space of the studio

No doubt there's more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.

What We're Listening For on Can't Slow Down

Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?

Then: presence and immediacy. The vocals aren't "back there" somewhere, lost in the mix. They're front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would put them.

The Big Sound comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.

Then transient information -- fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.

Tight punchy bass -- which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.

Next: transparency -- the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.

Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing -- an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.

Vinyl Condition

Mint Minus Minus and maybe a bit better is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)

Those of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.

If you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.

TRACK LISTING

Side One

Can't Slow Down
All Night Long (All Night)
Penny Lover
Stuck On You

Side Two

Love Will Find A Way
The Only One
Running With The Night
Hello

AMG 4 1/2 Star Review

On Can't Slow Down, his second solo album, Lionel Richie ran with the sound and success of his eponymous debut, creating an album that was designed to be bigger and better... with Can't Slow Down Richie reaped enormous dividends, earning not just his biggest hit, but his best album.

He has less compunction about appearing as a pop singer this time around, which gives the preponderance of smooth ballads -- particularly "Penny Lover," "Hello," and the country-ish "Stuck on You" -- conviction, and the dance songs roll smooth and easy, never pushing the beats too hard and relying more on Richie's melodic hooks than the grooves, which is what helped make "All Night Long (All Night)" a massive hit.

All the hits showcase Lionel Richie at his best, as does Can't Slow Down as a whole.